Week 16: Dybdahl.

honey i told you, that these things never last
an endless summer without a fall
when promises were meant to keep
and night-time wasn't meant for sleep

a love story at its peak.



doesn't it feel good to know that you've been loved?

Week 16: I am so wooozy. So wooooooozy.

ever so often, a friend of mine will decide to play 'good samaritan' and come pay me a visit in sydney. it always works out to be a win-win situation because they get brownie points to enter heaven while i get a break from this mindless soul-sucking droll that is my life in sydney. honest, i'm not kidding you. i spend 99% of my time either in the lab, in front of the tv, in front of my laptop or a combination of all the aforementioned. ask my housemate, she will testify.

this time around, the friend turned out to be [removed], my namesake and kindred from OBS. i haven't seen the wench for nigh on 2 years now so it was befitting that she paid me a visit in sydney (considering the fact that she lives in perth AND is working so i'd rather she pay for the plane ticket here than have a poor student i.e. I, fork out rent money to fly over to the outback perth HAHA!).

anyway, pictures and nothing else. i might add a caption or two anywhere i deem necessary. keep in mind though, that i had to fight very hard for MY RIGHT to put MY PHOTOS taken by MY CAMERA on MY BLOG. i tell you, that woman is the she-devil.



her attempt at 'Sexy'. what say you? i reckon it looks very Lolita-esque...I GIVE 7.8 out of 10! ngamngam distinction grade.


proof that i seem to have an affinity/attraction towards the numbers 2, 7 and 5. i shall explain this in another post.




the Bridge. check.


the Opera House. check.



waiking asked me, eh why your friend like that wan? i thought all your good friends are hardcore alcoholics...but why after one beer she laughing-laughing wan?

well, i say, LOOK AT HER LA! if that is not hardcore then i don't know what else is.

[edit: sorry there is nothing to look at anymore because i had to take down the alco photo. if you saw it before it was forcibly and unfairly requested to be removed, *points finger* you my friend, are one lucky thing HAHA!]


my attempt at artistic photography.
i call it, Sydney Through Beezneez.

This is a reply to Yunnie's tag.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?
i think the more important question here is - will i ever get married? cos at the moment i'm leaning towards the inclination of NO but if i do get married, preferably 27? i would've finished my PhD and established myself in the scientific community by then HAHAHAHA!

2. Your newest catchphrase?
erm...goshdernnit? i'm trying not to swear ok?

3. What job are you doing now?
i am unemployed, thanks.

4. Where is the place that you want to go most?
KAJANG! ok, if that was too obvious then i would say, err, the whole of Thailand? i'm actually quite content with southeast asia. and putting into respect that i would not be earning big bucks as a marine scientist, i can only AFFORD seasia.

5. If you could have one wish, what would it be?
world peace. lower petrol prices. the ability to remove bits of memory that are no longer needed. the options are endless!

6. Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
it depends. when i least expect them, they are there in full 7-coloured glory. but when i'm straining my neck to catch a glimpse, all i see are grey skies.

7. What are you afraid to lose most right now?
my sense of apathy. because when i stop NOT caring, i shall crumble into a heap of self pity.

8. What cheers you up for the rest of the day?
non-spawning urchins.

9. If you meet someone you love, would you confess to him?
no, unless i feel it is two-sided. there is nothing worse than tepuk sebelah tangan.

10. List out three good things about the person who tagged you.
extremely cheerful and optimistic, poses well for camera shots (HAHAHA!) and is an ex-OB CA. enough said.

11. List three good things about yourself.
a fantastic ability to 'close one eye', non-confrontational and endearing? HAHAHA no i was gonna say sweet, innocent and polite. *highly exaggerated wink*

12. What type of person do you hate the most?
Two-faced cheats and liars.

13. What would you do if you won a million dollars?
put it into the hands of a respectable and efficient accountant, watch him/her channel it into reputable investments, harvest my dividends and then buy a nice villa somewhere in Bali with money left over to spend.

14. What is your ambition?
to possess your heart.

15. What would you want to be after you're dead?
errr...i want to be resting in peace? i don't want to be worm food though.

16. Which part of your character would you change if you could?
my inability to take things seriously. because every time i do, i become apathetic.

17. What is your favourite colour?
honestly i don't have a particular favourite one. but if i had to choose, it would be any and all shades of blue.

18. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
the relationships i have built with the people i surround myself with because without it, there would be nothing.

19. What's the last thing you think of before you go to sleep?
we, as a whole. but because it takes only about 5 seconds from when my head touches the pillow and i close my eyes to when i'm asleep, i seldom have any thoughts.

20. What is the one most vivid memory you have?
a night sky full of stars. falling asleep with a smile.

Week 15: Housekeeping.

now that i am sufficiently calmer after my run-in with the devil's workshop a.k.a. iTunes, let's talk about other less angsty issues! but before i start, i'd just like to say that i've taken the advice from the Chang-man and have begun listing the songs of albums that are on high rotation on iTunes according to their track number. i would much rather have technology do it for me instead of having to do it myself but i guess we can't be winners all the time and beggers can't be choosers.

1. my mom has left sydney and is back home in sunny kajang. i try not to think about it but goshdernnit is time moving fast or what?? a whole month has crept up upon me and raced by without me even realising it! on one hand, this is a good thing because more weeks passed = that much closer to going home. but on the other hand, more weeks passed also = less time for me to figure out what i want to do with my life post-honours. anyway, i miss my mom cos suddenly the apartment seems so much more quiet now and there's only me on the couch accompanied by noises from the telly.

2. last week was officially the end of the urchin-culling season HOORAY! no more taking of innocent lives! to be honest, i was washed over by a sense of joy and relief when none of the urchins spawned on the very last day of the very last experiment. i know i should have been disappointed like how any other dedicated scientist would be, but all i could feel was EXHILARATION!

3. it feels strange walking into uni and passing anxious faces and large groups of students doing last-minute note-mugging outside halls and theatres because hello hello IT IS EXAM SEASON NOW! and why does it feel strange? well...i used to be one of them, but i'm not anymore! i want to go up to them, give them a pat on the back and say there there, it'll be alright - it's only math but i know i'm more likely to give them an overly-exaggerated wink while grinning and mouthing suckers. revel in the glory of pseudo post-graduate studies! (pseudo because i'm technically not a graduate - yet.)

4. on august 18, i'll be standing on the second dancefloor of enmore theatre drooling, screaming and crying to the sounds of Death Cab For Cutie! god this occasion is nearly enough to make me love australia for life because what are the odds of watching dcfc twice?? in the same country?!? and all thanks to the Chang-man too! wow i seem to be doubly indebted to you in less than a month lol. if it weren't for him alerting me about their impending arrival, i would've completed missed it! but once i received news about their gig at enmore, it was full throttle and pedal to the metal to obtain those tickets. i might've broken the record for the fastest time in scrambling to the computer, logging on to ticketek and punching my credit card number in - MEMORISED.

5. i have a visitor. and so, to end this highly irrelevant and boring post, i shall leave you with a picture. guess who?

Week 15: iTunes is a bitch.

iTunes is a pile of stinking shit. it has already been 4 weeks since i first tackled it and up till the very NOW i'm still struggling with it. what a load of fucking nonsense. iTunes (and all other Mac products, i reckon) prides itself in SUPPOSEDLY being user-friendly but the only 'friendly' way in which i can look at it is if i had my foot up its non-existent ass. i shall now proceed to list my grievances.

1. the thing that irks me the most is how they list songs in alphabetical order when i'm viewing by albums. listing songs alphabetically is alright if i'm looking at my songs under a general Music tab BUT NOT WHEN I WANT TO LISTEN TO WHOLE ALBUMS! oh iTunes, you might think that you're one step ahead and smart by going alphabetical, but i'll let you in on a little secret: songs on an album often meld into each other often without a break in the music.

songs are given their position in an album's playlist for a reason! did you think that when jon foreman was arranging the list for Oh! Gravity he said to himself, "hmm goodiddly-do..what song should i put after Head Over Heels (In This Life)? i know, since i had chicken rice for dinner yesterday, i shall put Yesterdays next! goody gumdrops!" NO YOU DICKHEAD! the reason why he put Yesterdays after Head Over Heels (In This Life) is because the melody leads from one into the other!

moron.

i don't want to see track #7 above track #2. fuck you.

2. iTunes store is such a pain in the proverbial ass. i can't believe they could fuck up such a simple process as registering an iPod onto the system. i spent the last hour trying to do just that. i have since given up. they keep asking me for my credit card details and denying it because 'that number is not valid in australia'. well FUCK YOU i've used this credit card to pay for my plane tickets to gladstone and melbourne AND bali (plus countless others), my uni fees, my visa application fees, my healthcover AND the fucking AUD3.30 parking fee on Chalmers St because i had to go for a health check and the stupid meter wouldn't accept coins...SO DON'T FUCKING TELL ME MY CARD IS NOT VALID IN AUSTRALIA. fuck you.

3. iTunes promises album cover flow while you're listening to the iPod and also when you're using iTunes on the computer. well, it's all a bunch of LIES LIES LIES because i have about an estimated 300 albums currently (and i have to estimate it BECAUSE iTunes DOESN'T KNOW!) and only 11 of them have an album artwork! and if you're questioning the authenticity of my albums, i can assure you that the album artwork appears on my windows media player. what shit nonsense is this omg i feel damn cheated la wtf WHAT THE FUCK!? and when i try to get the album artwork through iTunes, it leads me back to the iTunes store and nightmare #2 (see above) starts all over again. i feel damn conned la! fuck you.

4. iTunes is so unflexible. why can't it play .wma files? WHY?! even windows media player can play mp3 files what the fuck's wrong with you!? why must you change it to a .m4a file and take up space in my C drive? why?? WHY?!?! are you bent on sucking up that very last drop of unused memory i have? all 193mbs of it?! fuck you!

5. ok, now i'm just being anal...BUT WHY ISN'T THERE A STOP BUTTON ON iTunes?!?!?! there's a Play. a Pause. but no Stop. the most fundamental command. stop. and it can't even process that. it's official, guys...there is no help for iTunes anymore. to say 'fuck you' to it would be like giving an umbrella to a fish for fear it might get wet: no fucking use at all.

i hope iTunes rot in hell.

the end.

Week 14: Boys.

more photos! so free la got nothing to do that's why i'm putting it all up. no la, actually i'm not that free it's just that i've finished with all my preliminary experiments. anyway, was up in orange for the long weekend. i've probably said this a milion times but it's amazing how quickly kids grow up! they're so big now (especially joshua) i just can't believe it!





josh has now entered the make-agro-faces-while-posing phase. he's turning 8 soon. and he's no longer as annoying and aggravating as he was before HAHAHA omg i'm such a brilliant aunt. i actually had a proper grown-up conversation with him. we talked about girls and breaking up. the boy knows his stuff, oh HE KNOWS.

OH! and he remembers you, Karen!




auntie melanie being silly. yes, that is exactly what he said -
"STOP BEING SILLY AUNTIE MERH-NIE!"
the bottom-left photo was our attempt at 'Angry Face'. clearly i've been trounced by a 3yo.





my little Benito! if joshua was my bane a couple of years ago (HAHAHAHA serious ok he was really giving me a hard time remember i was at the very very bottom of his ladder of social hierarchy in the Chiew-Chai-Ho family tree), then ben is my answer to all the grievances joshua had heaped upon me HOHOHO! between josh and ben, ben's the boss. next to ben, joshua seems like a lamb...a sacrificial lamb lol.





AH SO CUTE LA! i take back everything i've previously said about not wanting kids - i want kids! i want my own little Benito! see? i look so motherly! i want to be a mother! HAHAHA!

Week 14: Making up for lost time.

WARNING! this is gonna be a picture-heavy post. and sorry, i know it's been awhile but you see..i've been really busy! anyway, here goes:

1. me and gen played caretakers to an orange female tabby, Buttons for about a week!


The quietest cat i've ever known (not that i'm saying i know a lot of cats but...) i swear! so adorable la...she knows a billion tricks (ok...more like 10 la) and i think she looks a lot like puss in boots from Shrek 2.

it was good because Buttons has managed to assure me that not all cats are spawnlets of the horned one. i now understand the affinity you have to Mr. Yellow, waiking! oh, and you too yihaur! btw, is your cat still alive?

2. i'm 22 years and 13 days old - WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT I'D MAKE IT THIS FAR!? lol..i'm kidding, chill. anyway, i had a birthday cake after a hiatus of 3 years, and it was home-made too!


yes, it's 100% home-made...my mom made it!



didn't really do much on my birthday: rocked up to lab, came back, had dinner, showered, slept. it was good though! i'm getting old, don't really need a lot of excitement in my life. and we all know that the hype of birthday celebrations is inversely proportionate to age. well, if not for you then at least that trend fits for me haha.


Happy birthday to me for making it all the way to 22 without having an attitude complex. being childish is not an attitude complex! and my cake is damn cantik kan?

3. i have now travelled to most of the bigger cities on the eastern seaboard of australia. starting from the top: Cairns (WHEE!), Brisbane, Byron Bay, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and now..Hobart, Tasmania! not too bad for a struggling student, eh?

was in Hobart for 3 days for a conference on climate change. it was pretty awesome cos i got to mingle with all these researchers whose works i have previously cited in my reports and assignments. never in a million years would i have ever thought that i'd get to meet them.


spot my name! maria was presenting data from my honour's work..MY HONOUR'S WORK! hohoho..fame glory and fortune here i come.

conference aside, hobart is really pretty! i want to live there and own a house there one day! i hope the ozone layer gets bigger so it'll warm the place up THEN IT'LL BE PERFECT!


i used to have a rocking horse like this..although the colour was pretty crap (the body was a sickly baby blue), it wasn't as 3D-ish AND it's mane and tail wasn't hair - it was made out of wood. i can't remember what happened to it. i might've broken it in a fit of my kiddy frustrations.



night views around Hobart - reasons being that i spent the whole of the days in the conference hall and was only given the opportunity to stroll at night. ah...why am i so diligent!?


The Lenna on Salamanca Place. my accomodation! it was some pretty sweet stuff.


the view of Hobart from the top of Mt. Wellington. never underestimate the power of mountains coupled with winter. i risked chillblain and possibly frozen digits to take this shot.


the Cascades Brewery! now officially one of my favourite places in the world. i bought a 6-pack of medium-sweet Mercury for AUD12. it's just like apple cider but with added alcohol! it doesn't sound so bad if you say it like those milk powder/yoghurt commercials (/perky voice Now with added Vitamin B, Folate and Zinc!)


the Richmond Bridge. richmond's supposed to be the oldest town in tasmania, according to my tour guide...but seeing he's originally a sydney-sider, it could be wrong. i fed the ducks some bread...then one greedy bastard decided to jump up at me and took a snap at my already pre-frozen fingers. that bastard. now i know why i love my ducks best when they're shiny and roasted on a white plate.


the collection of roadsigns continues! i already have a kangaroo and a cassowary from my trip up north..NOW I HAVE A TASSIE DEVIL! so fierce huh? just look at its marsupial teeth.